Duo Gamer Transforms the iPad, iPhone into a True Game Console

For some, touch controls on mobile devices for games are just never going to measure up to the feel of physical joysticks and buttons. Gameloft and Duo Games sympathize.

The Duo Gamer is a physical controller that can connect to an iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone over Bluetooth. You can see the four face buttons, the D-pad, and the dual joysticks, and there are also two trigger buttons on the back. The controller also comes with a stand, which is ideal for the iPad, but can be used for any mobile iOS device. That said, I’m not sure how often you’re going to want to use this with the iPhone or iPad – not necessarily devices that would benefit from being farther away from you than an arm’s length, unless you like squinting.

The controller will only work with Gameloft games, so you won’t be using this to play Angry Birds anytime soon. The boxy shape hasn’t been necessarily in vogue with gaming controllers lately, but it looks small enough to fit comfortably in most hands, anyway.

You can find the Duo Gamer at Amazon.com, Apple stores, Best Buy, and Target for about $80, which is kind of a staggering price for just a game controller that only works with a limited number of games.

What I really want is a controller that I can plug my iPhone *into*, so I can still hold it in my hand. Guess I’ll have to keep waiting. Sigh!

http://www.chipchick.com Chip Chick

With the whole dock connector issue… we’re actually happy that this is one iOS accessory that is wireless!

http://twitter.com/Snowx2k5 Neil T

Honestly its really hard to see why the controller cost so much. It shouldn’t cost more than a Playstation 3 controller seeing as how they’re both bluetooth controllers, the PS3 controller has a rechargeable battery and something tells me the Duo Gamer isn’t built to the same degree of quality as the PS3’s controller. It has a base, which is fine, but really, how much does a hollow bit of plastic cost?